Miscellanea. 345
In a house where the master died, I was told that the kitchen was overrun by rats, which ran up and down the walls.^
Watchitig in Ch2irch Porch for Wraiths of those about to die. — It was beUeved that if one stood in the church porch on the last night of the year he would see the shadows of those among his friends and relations who were doomed to die during the coming year. If you saw your own wraith you were sure to die.^
Charm to procure an Easy Death. — -My father was once visiting a dying farmer. As he came into the lower room he saw a curious old knife on his hob. He took it up to look at it and then placed it on the table. When he went up-stairs the sick man asked, " Is the knife on the hob ? " A relative went down, and finding it on the table, immediately put it back, and my father, on making inquiries, was told that if the knife were removed the sick man would " die hard." '^
Appearance of Face of the Dead indicates their Future State. — The appearance of the face of the dead was considered to be an indication of the state of the departed soul. A calm, peaceful expression was always noted by the survivors as a hopeful sign. A nurse told me that she always observed on the faces of those who had died in a state of sin a look of pain or an evil sneer.
Wool placed in Shepherd's Coffin. — When a shepherd died it used to be the custom to put a lock of wool into his coffin, the idea being that at the Judgment Day he could thus prove his vocation, which prevented him from being a regular attendant in church. The custom has now become almost obsolete, but not long ago I
' This belief is also reported from Devon. If mice run over a sick person's bed at night they portend death (4th Ser. Notes and Queries, ix., 134 seq:). It is also found in Cornwall and in Russia {ibid., ix., 257, 402). Can this be connected with the belief that the little Red Mouse represents the separable soul? (5th Ser. Notes and Queries, i., 156 ; 7th Ser., xii., 465 ; 8th Ser., i., 91, 244, 500). " In German superstition, the souls of the dead assume the forms of mice, and when the head of a house dies, it is said that even the mice of the house abandon it. In general, every apparition of mice is con- sidered a funeral presage. It is on this account that the funeral of St. Gertrude was represented surrounded by mice." (De Gubernatis, Zoo. Myth., ii., 67.)
- There are two days on which visions of this kind may be seen : St. Mark's Eve (April 25th) (Brand, Obso-vatiofis ,\. , 192 : ist Ser. Notes andQtieries, iv., 470 ; vi. 71, quoting a reference in Collins, " Ode to Fear "). The other was the Eve of the Feast of St. John Baptist (Brand, ibid., i., 331 ; iii., 236).
^ This belief is new to me. Can the knife here represent the Life Index, which, if kept warm and comfortable, the patient will die quietly?
